Singapore, March 31, 2020 – Having access to comprehensive, flexible and most-of-all speedy services is critically important for operators of highly automated electronics production lines. Technology leader ASM stands out in this field by breaking new ground on the road to Service 4.0 with its broad portfolio of layered service solutions. By combining connectivity with new technologies and services, ASM allows electronics manufacturers to design the mix of software-based support services, in-house technical help and support from ASM – either on-site or remotely – that works best for them.
Increasingly connected and ever more flexible, tightly synchronized production lines running shrinking lot sizes place new demands on manufacturers’ service teams. Maintenance operations must be scheduled during short production breaks, and any malfunction must be fixed as quickly as possible. After all, a factory can run trouble-free with maximum productivity and throughput rates only if all lines and systems are properly maintained at all times.
With its comprehensive portfolio of modular options and software tools, ASM is now offering its customers even more flexibility and a level of service and support that has been optimized for today’s and tomorrow’s SMT lines.
Predictive maintenance planning
To make its customers’ maintenance operations as efficient and effective as possible, the world’s largest maker of equipment for the electronics manufacturing industry offers many smart software solutions. With the ASM Equipment Center, internal service technicians have a powerful cockpit at their disposal that allows them to plan maintenance activities flexibly, centrally and proactively, to execute them efficiently, and to document every step in this process.
The software imports and visualizes the digital maintenance schedules of all line components, including those of non-ASM components. It also provides the technicians with digital instructions and checklists along with their maintenance orders. The completed checklists as well as test certificates are automatically archived in the maintenance history for each machine. This makes it easy to document the correct execution of maintenance activities for management and customers with just a few clicks.
Since sensor data can be transmitted from the machines directly into the ASM Equipment Center software over interfaces like IPC-CFX, rigid maintenance intervals can now be replaced with predictive maintenance.
Personal support and remote services
To provide quick support for its customers’ technicians, ASM maintains a dense global network of service locations and logistics hubs for spare parts.
With its ASM Remote Smart Factory, ASM has also built a global remote maintenance infrastructure that satisfies the toughest requirements in terms of data security and performance. Using the ASM Remote Smart Factory Connectivity Device, the various ASM solutions on the factory floor are linked separately from the customer’s own LAN and connected to the global ASM Service Portal over encrypted internet connections.
ASM service technicians can access the network at the customer’s request to analyze, optimize and even update all assigned machines, systems and tools without having to open cumbersome device-specific sessions. This makes the customer’s job a lot easier while enabling ASM’s service technicians to remotely optimize complex processes that may even span multiple machines.
If manual assists are needed during these sessions, the ASM specialists can guide the customer’s service technicians via video, for example with the help of smart glasses. Even video conferences for multi-site service training or improvement projects can be held with the ASM Remote Smart Factory system.
Parts supply
In some cases, replacing a worn part is all it takes to keep a line running smoothly. The ASM Webshop provides customers with a smart and easy solution for this. They can check on spare parts and consumables, request proposals, and get advice from the ASM team. They can even go a step further. If they integrate the ASM Webshop into their ERP system, the software can order spare parts or consumables that are needed for pending maintenance activities automatically. This ensures that the customer’s technicians have everything they need when they need it.
